An important aspect in learning to play a musical instrument is for the student to appreciate and experience the basic divisions of musical meter. One of the principal devices which was utilized for teaching the proper timing in music was the self-powered metronome. The metronome utilized a pendulum action wherein the timing was dependent upon the position of a weight on the pendulum. A problem with this device, however, was that it was not under the direct and continuous control of the student; hence he did not have the "feel" of the beat. Consequently, those mechanical time beating devices did not adequately advance the student's musical comprehension.
Other devices of the prior art included instruments mechanically operated by the student as by the application of foot or hand pressure which produced an audible signal; examples of such devices were shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,223,668 and 3,122,961. The reliance upon an audible time signal had distinct shortcomings in that it did not adequately instill a consciousness for the beat. Furthermore, it was impractical for the student, while playing a musical instrument, to at the same time listen for the audible time beating device, or alternatively the sound emissions were distracting the student.
Another device used in teaching music was shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,471,990. That device was intended for use conjointly with the teacher, and consequently a drawback was that its application for self-instruction was severely limited.
The present invention, in contrast, solves the aforementioned problems involved in the prior art with a mechanical time beating device which improves upon the natural and instinctive way to keep time to music, i.e. by tapping one's foot on a firm surface. This has been accomplished by the application of the rhythmic foot movement within a yieldable boundary limiting structure for defining both downward and upward toe displacement.
It should be noted that, although some devices had utilized an upward toe movement, for example as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,863,916 and 4,262,576, those devices were not intended for and did not have the instructional capacity of this invention. Furthermore, another disadvantage of the aforementioned devices was that they were incapable of stimulating basic time divisions in music both in duple and triple meter.